Inspire Health Medical Group has opened its 11th clinic in the Central Valley, establishing a new primary care and specialty location in Clovis. The facility, located at 2176 Shaw Ave., began operations on November 20 and aims to improve access to health services for local residents.
The group includes over 300 physicians and 80 advanced practice providers. Leaders said the choice of site near Shaw and Armstrong avenues was strategic for serving the community.
“This has been a project long in the making, carefully aligned with our vision for health care in the Valley and a stronger Inspire Health,” said CEO Joyce Fields-Keene.
Ivan Gomez, board member of Inspire Health and chief and vice chair of family and community medicine at UCSF Fresno, commented on the significance of this expansion. “Since I became chief of medicine at Inspire, I’ve carried a vision that I’ve seen many of us share,” he said. “Today, seeing that vision finally realized is incredible.”
The new clinic opened with three primary care providers and a general surgeon. There is additional space to add more providers as needed. Fields-Keene emphasized that Clovis’s growth made it an ideal place for expansion, noting hopes that increased access would help reduce barriers to primary care for residents.
“We really were looking for a strategic place to stand up a primary-care office. We have several specialty offices, but we hadn’t had a primary care office in a number of years,” Fields-Keene said. “Dr. Gomez was very instrumental in making sure that we address primary care.”
The expansion continues Inspire Health’s partnership with UCSF Fresno, which provides specialists through residency and fellowship programs.
“We train the next generation of UCSF’s residents and fellows,” Fields-Keene said. “They really are cutting edge. With endocrine and some of those other practice specialties, it would really be nice to have availability come in a couple half-days a week. We’re really trying to put care into this community.”
Fields-Keene also noted the organization’s origins with a UCSF-trained physician aiming to grow healthcare capacity in the region: “At the time it was a county program and really needed to be aligned,” she said. “San Francisco wanted to make a footprint in the Valley and they’ve really made some commitments in the past 40 years.”
Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua remarked on how long-awaited this opening was: “I saw the plans for these buildings, I want to say, 18, 20 years ago,” he said. “To see it finally filled — how exciting it is.”
